Insights

We Love Local: Fulham Palace Garden Centre

Thursday, April 03, 2014by Douglas And Gordon

Tell us a little bit about Fulham Palace Garden Centre.

Fulham Palace Garden Centre is run on behalf of the Prince’s Trust, which is a youth charity that helps change young lives, and aims to offer everything for the town gardener. Our tranquil, unique setting and stunning building enables us to create displays of plants, pots and other gardening products in a way that inspires ideas of what a garden - no matter how large or small - could look like, whether it’s contemporary, formal, Mediterranean or cottage.

The garden centre was established in March 1985 by the youth charity Fairbridge to provide work experience for young people who were interested in horticulture. This was first built and run by volunteers and in the early days, the idea was to provide work and training opportunities for young people. However, in order to compete with other garden centres and generate profits directly for the charity, the business was reorganised and re-developed. In January 2011 Fairbridge merged with The Prince’s Trust.

The centre is a bustling and friendly place, with an enviable range of hand-picked plants, pots, garden products, barbecues, garden furniture, houseplants, cards and gifts. We take great care to employ staff who have a love of gardens and the knowledge to help with any queries, whether it is a plant for a shady spot or advice on controlling pests and diseases. Many have been with us for a long time and have a good understanding of the local area, whilst others bring experience and knowledge from further afield. We also offer a planting up service for window boxes and containers.

Tell us a bit about your work with Prince’s Trust.

We support The Prince’s Trust through our trading activities, with all our profits going to support young people. We are also able to provide work experience opportunities for young people and currently employ a young person who undertook a “Get Into Horticulture” programme run by The Prince’s Trust

Why do you love gardening?

Not an easy question to answer as each of our staff have their own reasons, but all of us enjoy seeing plants grow and develop throughout the seasons and appreciate the benefit they have on the environment. Gardening is also a relaxing pastime and helps reduce the daily stresses of life.

Going into spring, what types of plants should people be looking to buy?

Spring is a great time for planting lots of things as temperatures are increasing. Early on you should be planting primroses, pansies and polyanthus for instant colour, but providing there are no frosts there is a vast choice of summer bedding plants for pots, window boxes and borders such as geranium, petunia and begonia. There are also lots of shrubs and herbaceous perennials. You shouldn’t forget fruit trees and bushes either.

Do you have any advice for gardeners in the coming months?

Lightly fork over borders and remove any weeds taking care not to damage emerging herbaceous plants. If not already done, apply a general fertiliser such as fish, blood and bone or pelleted chicken to all plants. Mulch any areas of garden not already done with well-rotted manure or compost. Remove the faded flowers of bulbs. Remember to water anything newly planted as they can still dry out from the wind even on dull days.

At Douglas & Gordon, we love local. Why do you love Fulham?

The beauty about Fulham is that there is a mixture of hustle and bustle and quiet areas for relaxation so you get the best of both worlds. Bishop’s Park and the riverside is a great place to go and relax.